The new coronavirus variant discovered in Britain with a higher transmission rate is not yet out of control and can be contained using existing measures, the World Health Organization said on Monday
The new coronavirus variant discovered in Britain with a higher transmission rate is not yet out of control and can be contained using existing measures, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
"We have had a much higher (contamination rate) at different points in this pandemic and we've got it under control," WHO's emergencies chief Michael Ryan told a press conference.
"So this situation is not in that sense out of control. But it cannot be left to its own devices."
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock had earlier claimed the new variant was "out of control", with British officials saying it was 70 per cent more transmissible than the main strain.
"The measures we currently have in place are the correct measures," Ryan said.
"We need to do what we have been doing, we may just have to do it with a little more intensity and for a little longer to make sure we can bring this virus under control."
Roughly 30 countries shut their borders to people travelling from Britain or South Africa -- where another variant has emerged -- to stop any further spread.
"In some senses, it means we have to work harder," Ryan said. "Even if the virus has become a little bit more efficient in spreading, the virus can be stopped."
‘New strain may already be present in many countries’
Meanwhile, the WHO’s Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan claimed that the mutant strain may already be present in many countries. “I suspect that as more countries look at their data, they might find this variant, or a related variant, might already be there”, she said.
“The UK is one of those countries that is doing a lot of whole genome sequencing and is therefore able to track this very closely in real time,” Swaminathan stated.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week said a fast-moving new variant of the virus that is 70 per cent more transmissible than existing strains appeared to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England in recent weeks. But he stressed “there’s no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness,” or that vaccines will be less effective against it.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Director General Shekhar Mande said that the coronavirus vaccines will be equally effective against the new mutant of the virus and there is no reason to panic. He said the transmissibility of the new strain N501Y is a “bit higher” but this does not mean it is more lethal and more people are going to die due to it.
“It is likely that there will be differences between certain aspects like anti-bodies but it doesn’t necessarily mean that vaccines will be ineffective. Vaccines will be equally effective despite the mutation. So there is no reason to panic,” Mande told PTI.
The CSIR’s Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad have alone done sequencing of over 2,200 genome sequences of coronavirus in India.
